80k into the trip and….. DERAILLEUR FAILURE. Something bad happened to the mech. Something very bad. It ended up in the spokes, the wheel was bent and it tried to rip the dropout apart. The beautifully chromed Campag dropouts had been prised open and bent in towards the wheel. We thought it was over.

Fear not though, one awesome French mechanic came to the rescue. Armed with a very large adjustable spanner and a few other very large tools he managed to bend the frame back into place (or thereabouts). The mech was replaced with an almost Campag compatible number and the wheel straightened out. We were back on the road. Albeit with a third of the gears I set off with, but the show could go on.